


Punch-Drunk

by The_Sad_Hatter



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Chaos with a side of chaos, Loki is an Avenger, Magical Accidents, Magically induced brain injury, Multi, Reader is not to blame, She's drunk, absolute shenanigans, have some pity, magic drunkness, mini series
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:42:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25270039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Sad_Hatter/pseuds/The_Sad_Hatter
Summary: “She took a combined blast of Wanda AND Loki’s magic, straight to the head. It’s left her a little… well, let’s be polite and say ‘discombobulated’.” Sam explained, the fidgety way he was bouncing from foot to foot betraying how uncharacteristically nervous he was.“Jesus. She took a blast from both of them, and she’s still standing?” Tony hissed, wincing in sympathy.“Standing is a generous term.” Clint scoffed, striding into the room in time to catch Tony’s question.“How is she?” Steve asked.“Bruce is checking her over, but I don’t need his diagnosis to tell you that her brains been scrambled six ways to Sunday.” Clint sighed.
Relationships: Bucky Barnes & Reader, Loki/Reader, Steve Rogers & Reader
Comments: 21
Kudos: 201





	Punch-Drunk

It seemed like no matter how many Hyrdra cells, AIM bases, rouge Inhumans, or corrupt politicians they took down, every day there was a fresh crop of threats to be dealt with. Like it was a never-ending cycle. Thankfully, The Avengers were always ready to tackle the problem, and there were enough of them that they could spilt up into teams when it was necessary. So while Steve, Tony, Bruce, Natasha, Thor, and Vision had been dismantling the corrupt government of a small European country, Sam, Bucky, Clint, Wanda, Loki, and you had been tearing down an AIM base in Northern Canada.

The first team had returned first, and spent the next day and night waiting for the rest of The Avengers to come home. As soon as he got word that the Quinjet was nearby, Steve was in the Hanger, pacing around like a worried mother waiting for her kids to come back from their first day at school.

From the second the team disembarked the Quinjet, it was painfully obvious that the mission hadn’t gone to plan. Bucky was the first to come down the ramp, walking so quickly he was all but running, brushing past Steve without meeting his eyes.

“Buck?”

“M’fine, debrief later.” Bucky muttered, high-tailing it into the compound.

His instinct was to follow Bucky, but he knew better. His friend wasn’t injured, that much was obvious. Whatever it was, it wasn’t something pertinent, and he needed to see the rest of the team was alright before he went and chased down his oldest friend.

Sam and Wanda were the next one’s down the ramp, his arm slung across her shoulders as he murmured something to her with a serious expression on his face. The young woman nodded slowly, letting out a deep breath and offering Steve a small smile as she hurried past him.

“What happened?” Steve asked as Sam came to stand next to him.

“It’s a long story.” Sam said wearily.

Loki followed next, uncharacteristically quiet, taking his time as he sauntered over. The pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place as the last figure disembarked the Quinjet, Clint stepped onto the ramp, carefully balancing you in his arms.

“She dozed off. I’m taking her to Bruce.” Clint whispered, cautious not to disturb you.

Steve swallowed thickly, peering down at your sleeping face. There were no obvious signs of injury, no blood, but that didn’t calm him down. He quickly stepped ahead of Clint to open the hanger doors, Sam and Loki following, Sam diligently, Loki begrudgingly.

“Sam?” Steve prompted as Clint peeled off from the group, carrying you towards Banner’s lab.

Sam nodded and stepped into the nearest empty room, a briefing room, where he lowered himself into a chair, face betraying the heavy exhaustion settling in. Loki promptly found a corner and melted into the shadows, close enough to be a part of the team, far enough away to keep his distance. Just like the god had been doing since the day Thor had brought him to the compound and he and Banner had made a case for Loki to begin making amends.

“What the hell happened, I just saw Clint going into Banner’s lab with Scooby!” Tony demanded, bursting into the room.

Even when he was worried about you, he just couldn’t drop the canine nicknames. Between your honed tracking skills, loyal disposition, and constant palatable excitement, you were (at least according to Tony) a puppy dog.

“Mission was a success, we took down the base and disabled that branch of AIM, but there were some complications.” Sam explained.

“What kind of complications?” Steve asked calmly, cutting across Tony’s worried squawking.

“Wanda and Loki were working together, using magic to keep the main cluster of guards occupied while the rest of us picked them off, but…” He paused, gathering to his feet and pacing.

“But?” Tony pressed.

“She took a combined blast of Wanda AND Loki’s magic, straight to the head. It’s left her a little… well, let’s be polite and say ‘discombobulated’.” Sam explained, the fidgety way he was bouncing from foot to foot betraying how uncharacteristically nervous he was.

“Jesus. She took a blast from both of them, and she’s still standing?” Tony hissed, wincing in sympathy.

“Standing is a generous term.” Clint scoffed, striding into the room in time to catch Tony’s question.

“How is she?” Steve asked.

“Bruce is checking her over, but I don’t need his diagnosis to tell you that her brains been scrambled six ways to Sunday.” Clint sighed. “Banner’s got her calmed down now, but she wouldn’t let him look her over at first. Thankfully, he figured out a way to get her to comply.”

“Do we want to know?” The Captain asked nervously.

Despite the evident worry in his eyes, Clint sniggered. “Depends, do you know how to play Simon Says?”

“Damn, wish we’d thought of that in the Quinjet.” Sam cursed.

“What?” Steve frowned.

“She wouldn’t calm down in the quinjet, had to bribe her with a candy bar. Which she ate, and then cried cause the wrapper was lonely.” Sam explained sagely, shaking his head fondly.

“The she forgot how her zipper worked, and when Wanda showed her she thought it was the pinnacle of human invention. Ran around showing everybody, accidentally flashed Barnes.” Clint said with great difficulty, nearly bursting with the effort of containing his laughter.

“You’ve yet to explain _how_ this happened.” Tony reminded, rounding on Loki. “You! Did you do this on purpose?”

The lanky god looked up at them as if surprised to realise they were still in the room, as if he hadn’t been listening intently to every word said.

“Be sensible. If I were going to inflict this on one of you tedious mortals, I wouldn’t have chosen her.” Loki drawled, rolling his eyes so hard it was a wonder they didn’t get stuck.

“It wasn’t his fault Stark. She was pushed into the path of the blasts by a Security Guard.” Sam defended.

Loki looked taken aback for a brief second before he schooled his featured back into a look of cold disinterest.

“Well how bad is it? Loki? What’s it doing to her?” Steve asked levelly.

“I do not know. A blast from one of us can incapacitate someone, but combined? There’s no telling what effects it may have, or how long they will last.” Loki admitted.

“Bruce’ll be able to tell us more.” Tony hissed, hurrying from the room, the rest of the group following.

“So Bucky?” Steve murmured, tilting his head so he could whisper to Sam.

“He’s fine, he just saw more than he bargained for on the Quinjet.” Sam assured, lips twitching.

Tony burst into the lab without preamble, approaching Bruce who didn’t even bother looking up from the bright hologram he was studying.

“Where is she?” Steve asked, looking around for you.

“Next door, I’m scanning her brain.” Bruce explained curtly, nodding to the hologram.

“Wait, is that her actual brain?” Clint asked, stuck halfway between intrigued and wigged out.

“Not her actual, _actual_ brain Clint, it’s a 3D scan of her brain. If you look here…” Bruce said, using his pen to point out a particular spot on the hologram, “That’s the limbic system of the brain, it’s where most of our, in this case her, behaviour is decided. Only in this case, it’s not functioning as it should be. There’s some, uh, unusual activity.”

“Of the magical variety?” Steve guessed.

“In a way. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I can’t be certain without more tests, but from the information I do have, I hypothesize that Wanda’s powers of mental manipulation are lingering and fluctuating in her brain due to the interference from Loki’s magic. Let’s say on a normal day, Wanda’s abilities are like a dust, settling over the mind. Adding Loki’s abilities into the mix appears to have turned those dust particles into darts. Wanda’s power made a deeper impact, and left some injuries. Except of course, this is metaphysical and not tangible. Her brain is injured, but not physically.”

“Is she in pain?” Steve asked sharply.

“No, the damage is contained to the Limbic System, so the side-effects are mostly emotional. She’s a little scared and somewhat confused, but easily distracted from it all. Too easily distracted actually, critical thinking skills are impaired, emotional responses are heightened, short-term memory comes and goes in bursts. It’s almost as if she’s…” He trailed off, frowning at the hologram as it flickered, and the sputtered out of existence.

“Oh no.”

“What is it?” Loki demanded, pressing forwards, shouldering Sam and Clint out of the way.

“Simon said stay still! You’re supposed to stay still!” Bruce called, rushing from the room without answering Loki.

You were upright at least, much to Steve’s relief. Upright and furious. You whirled round as they entered, your eyes zeroing in on Steve with determined purpose.

“’Teve! Stark pushed me!” You wailed, voice wavering with emotion, eye’s filled with the pain of betrayal.

“Uh… Friday?” Tony scoffed, watching you with curiosity and wariness in equal measure.

“I believe she is referring to the incident a few moments ago, where she walked into one of your Iron Suits and rebounded off of it. She’s been arguing with it since, seemingly convinced you were inside it.” Friday elaborated.

Clint immediately made a swift exit from the room, his face an alarming shade of red. You ignored everyone else in the room and made a beeline for Steve, eyes lit up with determination.

“Get him!” You demanded, screeching to a halt just before your face made a violent connection with Steve’s body.

Steve’s eyes followed the direction you were pointing, to a perplexed Tony.

“Sweetheart, no.” Steve sighed softly, trying to reach out and put a hand on your shoulder, huffing in frustration when you wriggled out of reach.

“Why are you asking Cap to do it, you’re a superhero, get him yourself.” Sam suggested, grinning like the Cheshire cat.

You went cross-eyed, trying to make sense of Sam’s words while Steve and Tony levelled him with twin glares of exasperation.

“Oh yeah! I am, I have GUNS!” You screeched giddily.

As your hands dived under your shirt, everyone else moved in perfect unison. First there was the widening of the eyes as they realised what you’d said, and then they all dove forward, arm’s outstretched towards you. Somehow, _somehow_ , your discombobulated self managed to evade the grasp of four highly capable superhero’s, and the gun you’d wrangled out of it’s holster came into view.

“I’ll take that.” Loki sighed, plucking it out of your hand and sending it who knows where in a flash of green light.

Steve rocked back on his heels, relief coursing through his veins.

“She was going to shoot me!” Tony gasped, sounding more offended than worried.

You ignored them all in favour of staring at Loki in absolute awe, eyes lit up from within with a sense of wonder.

“Magic!” You breathed out, bespelled by the god of mischief.

“Tony, she doesn’t know what she’s doing. Like I said, she has no critical thinking skills. Her emotions are heightened and unpredictable, and she’s reacting instinctively to what she feels.” Bruce reminded, defending you from the appalled pout on Tony’s face by standing between you both.

“Bruce! Brucie! Did you see that? He did magic!” You screeched, still not taking your eyes off of Loki.

The blank look on Loki’s face slowly melted into something definitively warmer, and he damn near almost preened at your palatable excitement.

“It was a simple enough trick, I simply sent it elsewhere.” He shrugged casually, watching you carefully as you grinned up at him.

“Can you do it again?” You demanded, grabbing the nearest object and handing it to him.

“Wait!” Tony yelped as Loki took the object from you, but it was gone in a flash. “That was a prototype.” He finished, shoulders slumping. “Bruce, how long will she be like this?”

“I don’t know yet, or if we can reverse it.” Bruce admitted, peering down at a tablet he’d plucked off of his desk, frowning at it. “But I got enough information from the brief scan to tell one thing.”

“What is it?” Sam asked, watching you as you skipped through the lab, Loki trailing after you with a rare, genuine smile on his face.

There were multiple flashes of green as you tossed things at your new best friend, clapping joyfully as he made them disappear. Bruce looked up from the tablet, a grim look on his face.

“It’s getting worse. She’s getting, for lack of a better term, drunker.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is more of a prologue than a first chapter. The rest of the series will be mostly set from Loki’s POV.


End file.
